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This panel asked, "What can the EU do to promote responsible mining in the Arctic? What is the EU willing to invest to get the CRM it needs?" With the Arctic warming up to seven percent faster than the rest of the planet, nowhere else is the need to address climate change more urgently. The key to mitigating its effects lies in the energy transition, which is inextricably linked to the mining of critical raw materials. The European Arctic offers enormous potential for mining CRMs, confirmed most recently by the new rare earths deposit adjacent to the existing Kiruna mine in northern Sweden. The European Arctic is also home to the Saami, Europe’s only indigenous peoples, a non-indigenous rural population that struggles with out-migration and extraordinary natural landscapes important for mitigating climate change while also providing business opportunities in tourism and forestry. Europe has long been at the vanguard of the sustainability movement and European policy-makers insist it can remain so as mining can and will be done responsibly. But what is responsible mining in the European context and can mining be responsible if there are communities in opposition? Who wins and who loses? And should those most directly affected have the right to say no?

This panel looks at labour, social acceptance, energy, investments and other key elements needed in building a culture of sustainable entrepreneurship in the High North.

Marie-Anne Coninsx (Former EU Ambassador at Large for the Arctic; IPF Board Member; Senior Fellow, Egmont Institute) and Michael Sfraga (Ambassador-at-Large for Arctic Affairs, United States) give closing remarks at the end of the Arctic Futures Symposium 2024.

Pilo Samuelsen (Chief Operating Officer, SiuTsiu, Nuuk, Greenland)) receives the 2024 Laurence Trân Arctic Futures Award on behalf of his organisation 

The 15th annual Arctic Futures Symposium began with a welcome from the organisers and four keynote speeches.

This panel highlighted what the Norwegian Arctic Council Chairship has been able to achieve in spite of the current geopolitical situation and what the Kingdom of Denmark Chairship will carry on when it takes over in 2025.

Changing political dynamics between Arctic states and within Arctic states have the potential to accelerate the transformation of the Arctic from an area apart from geopolitical tension to an area of geopolitical competition. All Arctic Council states apart from Russia are now NATO members, and these Arctic 7 must grapple with increasingly challenging ties to Russia and China. Although current points of tension do not stem from the Arctic, this does not preclude heightened tensions from being expressed in the European High North, North Atlantic, or the North American Arctic. Climate change is opening new opportunities for trans-Arctic trade, drawing interests from both Arctic and non-Arctic States. This panel was split into two 45-minute panels with three speakers each. The first focused on Transatlantic Cooperation Priorities : What Will Be New in 2025 and After, and the second focused on Transatlantic Cooperation on the Ground: How Transatlantic Cooperation Can Deliver.

Riding in a Toyota Hilux towards PEA after spending some time at Perseus Airfield to prepare for the arrival of scientists in a few days!

This week two members of our team traveled to the coast when they just so happened to encounter a pod of Arnoux's beaked whales swimming and feeding amongst the seaice. These whales are very rarely seen, and marine biologists still know very little about their feeding habits and behavior, which made this sighting even more special!